For the first time since UFC
168, former middleweight champion Anderson
Silva has opened up about the devastating leg injury he
suffered in his rematch with Chris
Weidman.

Silva talked about the injury this week in an interview with
“Fantastico” on Brazilian network Rede Globo.

“I’m improving. I’m not going 100-percent, but I’m already taking
little steps with a crutch,” said Silva. “It’s a pain that I do not
wish on anyone. Since I came from Las Vegas, I left the hospital, I
can’t sleep all night. It’s very difficult.”

In the interview, “The Spider” confessed that he remembers the
moment of the injury all the time, and that he is still trying to
figure out why it happened.

“I see a movie of everything that happened before that moment of
the accident. The whole time, I’m trying to understand, why?” Silva
remarked. “Why did I have to break my leg? Why did I have to go
through this situation? I’m trying to understand the message that
God is trying to send me at that time.”

In reviewing his second fight against Weidman, the former champ
analyzed the mistakes he made in the bout, including the exact time
of the strike which caused his leg to fracture.

“I got to see some details and technical mistakes that I made in
the fight. To give the perfect shot right there, I had to divert
his attention with a punch to the face. So, I totally diverted his
attention from the low-kick movement. What you can tell is that
he’s protecting the shot line from the waist up,” Silva noted, “and
he lifted his leg instinctively. The kick was strong at his point
of unbalance. I believe that if people realize these technical
details, they will see that it was an instinctive thing. It wasn’t
something he had trained to do. I think what happened was
inevitable. I’m pretty sure I would have won [if I hadn’t been
injured].”

Silva also shared exactly what went through his mind at the moment
of the injury.

“When I saw that my leg was broken, I was terrified. I couldn’t
tell if the fracture was exposed or not. Then, I spoke to the judge
who was there with me so they could put my leg in place as quickly
as possible, and the pain was absurd,” Silva said. “I only thought
one thing: Is it over? Will I ever walk again? Am I alright? But, I
am confident that I will succeed. I will return.”

Since leaving the hospital, Silva has been spending his days with
his family in Los Angeles. The Brazilian said he is living through
the most difficult moment of his career, mainly by returning home
with his injury.

“My children are waking up every day to my screams of pain, and
it’s a very bad thing for them. These days, I’ve been crying in the
car so I don’t wake them,” Silva lamented, discussing the toughest
aspect of his injury. “I never before had to come home bruised. Not
a cut, nothing. It was the saddest thing to get home and look at my
wife, my children, and be hurt. It’s the one thing that saddened me
greatly and it’s something that greatly moved me. It was the worst
moment of my life and my career.”